Week 6: Logo Implementation and Prepress Production

Assignment

Last week, you created an imaginary restaurant and developed a company overview and logo for it.
This week, you will create business card, letterhead and envelope designs for the restaurant.

Overall Specifications

• Adobe Illustrator
• All single-sided
• Full-color CMYK
• ¼" bleed
• ¼" safe zone
• Include on all three designs:
  • Logo
  • Consistent color palette 
  • Consistent design elements

Business Card Specifications

• 3½"x2" (landscape or portrait)
• include employee name and title
• include address, phone number and web address (email optional)

Letterhead Specifications

• 8½"x11" (portrait only)
• include address, phone number and web address (email optional)

Envelope Specifications

• 9½"x4-1/8" (landscape only)
• include return address
• meet US Postal Service requirements for layout

Portal

Upload the following to Week 7 Lesson:

• restaurant business card (PDF)
• restaurant letterhead (PDF)
• restaurant envelope (PDF)

Student Showcase

We will take a look at any of your new work which is ready to share.
For the restaurant logo project, we will discuss the following aspects of each:

• Overall strength of the design
• Degree to which:
  • the logo communicates the idea of delicious food
  • the logo communicates the branding message
  • the file meets the specifications

Logo Implementation

Rollout: Process and Best Practices

Now that the logo is created, an identity system is designed, and everything is approved by the client, the next step is rollout. Rollout means actually putting the logo in use in real-world scenarios. In order to prepare for these various applications of the logo, designers create identity/graphic standards manuals. This allows the original designer to visualize all the information needed to implement the logo successfully. It requires thinking through every possible use of the logo, and providing specific guidelines for those uses.

A comprehensive yet concise list of directions will save time, forestall bad design, and result in an effective message, even when designers new to the business are added. To paraphrase Milton Glaser, design which has been given minimal thought will have little value in the long run. Since the word design means to formulate a plan, creating a road map in the form of a standards manual is a key step in the process of designing a logo.

Standards manuals or guidelines allow identity systems to be managed properly—because they serve as the ultimate resource for consistent application of the logo throughout all communication and visual materials required by the client. Manuals function to ensure that the standards and ideas developed by the original designers are systematically and consistently reproduced in the same manner every time.

It is vital that the logo be used properly over its lifetime, not only for the first six months of a rollout when the original designer creates the first round of materials. Designers who take these extra steps are invaluable to their clients. This is one of the primary reasons that major corporate clients work repeatedly with design consultants who understand implementation and the role of identity guidelines. Informed clients, for example, understand the confusion and disorganization their brand images will suffer when something as simple as inconsistent color is used in the printing of their business cards.

Manuals must be created to be useful to the widest possible group of logo users. Often, in larger companies, there is an identity or branding coordinator who assures continuity and accurate use of the  identity by following the graphic standards manual. In-house design departments are often the primary users of a graphic standards manual, but not all clients are large enough organizations to have such groups. All outsourced designers will use the manual. Other in-house departments and related consultants that need the manual include:

• advertising
• public relations
• marketing
• investor relations
• merchandising
• licensing
• printers
• package manufacturers
• signage fabricators
• vehicle and uniform supply companies
• all purchasing departments responsible for any of the above.

Getting all creatives and related consultants to use the standards manual will be of primary importance. A CEO who supports the new identity system is critical. Many manuals begin with a CEO letter. This letter states the support of the CEO, briefly explains the need for the identity, and directs employees to support and correctly use the identity. This, in effect, makes brand stewards of the employees. If a designer has been able to lay the groundwork for acceptance, success is attainable.

Prepress

• Prepress is a catch-all name for the work steps done between designing and printing.
• Sometimes the line between design and prepress is unclear and can cause communication/responsibilities confusion.
• For our purposes, prepress refers to:
• Creation of high-resolution PDF files
• Making images and documents print-ready
• Controlling imposition
• Controlling screen frequency
• Creation of contract proofs
• A large part of prepress work is done digitally at the printing house
• Some parts of prepress are done by designers in the layout or image production stages

Postscript

• Page description language (PDL): a graphic programming language that describes the layout and appearance of a page
• Before printing can be done, the native file  (i.e. Illustrator) must be converted into a format that the Raster Image Processor (RIP) software can understand
• PDLs describes the layout in a way that allows the RIP to translate the page into halftone screens on a plate
• Many PDLs exist, but the industry standard is Postscript from Adobe
• Other companies besides Adobe can use Postscript (it is open-source), making it manufacturer-independent; this is vital to graphic print production
• Postscript has three main functions:
• Translation of files into Postscript code
• Transfer of Postscript code
• Processing (rasterizing) of Postscript code
• There are three versions:
• Postscript Level 1
• Postscript Level 2
• Postscript Level 3, which has enhanced capabilities
• Different programs are good in different ways in creating Postscript files, but it is best to use Adobe design applications
• PDFs are the standard for submitting layouts to a printer, and at their heart is the engine that is Postscript
• All objects in a layout—fonts, lines, curves, patterns, etc.—are described in Postscript with mathematical (Bezier) curves
• Pixel-based images are stored in Postscript as a bitmap with a Postscript header
• Every time you output a document to a Postscript-compatible printer, a Postscript file is created
• Postscript files can be created independent of an output device, but cannot be edited directly
• Since most design programs can save to PDF directly, we often don’t realize that Postscript is being created first automatically 
• If you are using a non-Postscript program like Microsoft Word, the computer’s own printout functions must be used to create Postscript; this requires the following be installed: 
• A Postscript-based printer
• A Postscript Printer Description (PPD)
• The simplest way to create Postscript files from Microsoft Office is to have Adobe Acrobat installed—this adds PDF functionality to Office applications
• RIP consists of two parts:
• A Postscript interpreter
• A processor translating the pages into raster images (bitmaps)
• Sometimes the RIP is integrated into the printer itself
• When printing separated films, each page of a layout is calculated four times, one for each color
• The bitmaps created by RIP let the plate imagesetter know which exposure dots should be exposed for each plate
• Complex page designs require a great deal of calculations for RIP to do, which can take a lot of time

PDF

• PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and it was created by Adobe to move advanced contents between computers in a simple manner
• PDF files can contain:
• Text
• Images
• Video
• Sound
• 3-D graphics
• interactive software for filling out forms
• PDF files can be opened without access to the program that created the contents
• Adobe Reader is free and is used to view PDFs
• Adobe Acrobat is not free and is used to create PDFs
• There are different versions of Adobe Acrobat available for simpler or more complex PDF-creation needs
• PDF is today the basis of all graphic design work flow and for submitting designs to printing houses
• You can create PDFs:
• Through a built-in support in the application you are working in
• Through Adobe Acrobat directly
• Through online tools such as http://www.freepdfconvert.com/

• PDFs are generated with a tool called Acrobat Distiller, which is often an invisible part of the process
• The Job Options offered by PDF are a collection of predefined settings for different types of destinations
• Job Options has settings for:
• Resolution
• Compression
• Font handling
• Color handling
• A screen version of a PDF can use lower resolution and higher compression
• A press version of a PDF needs a higher resolution and lower (or no) compression
• You can convert RGB images into CMYK on-the-fly when exporting from InDesign to PDF (In the Print dialog, go to the Output tab and select the Convert to Destination option, then select the CMYK destination profile.)
• Adobe Acrobat allows you to save low-resolution copies from press-ready PDFs: Advanced > PDF Optimizer
• You can create security settings within a PDF to protect the file in different ways (File > Document Properties > Security):
• Password-protect a file for reading and/or editing
• Prevention of editing some areas while allowing it in other areas
• Allow or prevent printing of the PDF
• If you allow printing, a user can “print” it as a new PDF, which would remove the security settings
• If you send a PDF to a printing house for printing, make sure that it allows them to make last-minute changes if necessary; on the other hand, if the PDF is for proof purposes, you may want to only allow them to add notes and copy text
• You can create your own PDF settings within a preset; this is desirable is you use the same sorts of settings over and over in your work flow
• PDFs files should be proofed both by the person creating the PDF and by the person receiving the PDF at the printer’s
• Proofing consists of:
• Content check
• Inspect the file and print it out
• Look for flaws such as dropped lines, spelling errors, or missing elements/parts
• Technical check
• Advanced > Preflight
• Image resolution
• Color layers
• Maximum amount of ink permitted
• Occurrence of spot colors
• No text smaller than 8 points
• Advanced > Output Preview > Preview Separations
• Each color channel can be proofed separately
• You can check for knockouts or deep black printin

Adjusting for Printing

• An ad campaign may use the same image for different types of displays: magazine, newspaper, billboard, etc.
• Each time, the image must be adjusted for the printing needs of that particular destination
• Color reproduction in printing is principally affected by three factors:
• Ink
• Paper
• The printing process used
• The higher the quality of paper, the more ink you can lay down on it, and the higher the color quality
• The shade of paper, its surface structure, and it response to printing affect color reproduction to a large degree
• Few types of paper are completely white; most have a light coloration
• Misregistration of printing plates can vary between different printing techniques and on the material you are printing on
• If you printing on an uncommon material, the adjustments you need to make will be more elaborate

Gray Balance

• If you print with equal amounts of cyan, magenta, and yellow in a given area, this will not result in a neutral gray as one would theoretically expect (there will be a color cast)
• This is a result of:
• The paper not being pure white
• Variations in the order in which the printing inks are applied
• The difference in dot gain among inks
• If the gray balance is off, natural reference colors like skin and sky will look “off”
• A mix of 40% cyan, 29% magenta and 30% yellow is a common value for gray balance

GCR and Maximum Ink Coverage

• Each component color of CMYK at full tone achieves a tonal value of 100%
• With each color at full value you could theoretically achieve a total ink coverage of 400%; this is impossible to achieve in practice
• Too much ink can result in smudging and smearing
• One method for avoiding such heavy ink coverage is Gray Component Removal (GCR) 
• With GCR, equal portions of cyan, magenta and yellow are removed and replaced with a corresponding screen of black ink

• You can specify a maximum ink coverage ("total ink limit") in Photoshop for a given image
  • Start with an RGB image and do all of your editing in RGB first
  • Edit > Color Settings...
  • From the CMYK dropdown, choose Custom CMYK...
  • In the dialog that opens, set the Total Ink Limit according to your press operator's recommendations
  • Click OK twice, then convert the image to CMYK

Dot Gain

• Dot gain is a technical phenomena wherein the size of the halftone dots increases during the printing process
• Dot gain typically occurs when the ink is applied to paper and the ink spreads into the paper fibers

• An image that has not been adjusted to account for dot gain will appear too dark when printed and obscure details

• Compensating for dot gain can occur during conversion to CMYK: 
  • Start with an RGB image and do all of your editing in RGB first
  • Edit > Color Settings...
  • Set the Gray and Spot Dot Gain percentages according to your press operator's recommendations
  • Click OK, then convert the image to CMYK

Minimum Highlight Dot

• Minimum highlight dot refers to the smallest percentage point at which a given printing process can achieve.
• This can also differ according to the screen frequency or type of paper.
• Most normal printing situations can reproduce very light tones so that you can create a tonal transition that disappears into white without a big jump in tone (with a corresponding jagged edge.)
• In some printing process such as flexography or screenprinting, sometimes you lose any detail where tones dip beneath 10%.
• To compensate for this, sometimes a designer will manually darken the lightest areas of the image.

Sharpening Images

• Digital images are usually sharpened to make them look good when printed.
• Screen frequency, misregistration, and wet ink on paper can sometimes blur the image.
• Unsharpened images can be perceived as out-of-focus.
• Images should be sharpened to varying degrees, depending on the printing process used.
  • Images printed with a high screen frequency and good paper on a sheet-fed offset printer don't need much sharpening.
  • Images printed on newsprint with a web-fed printer need a lot more sharpening.

Knocking Out, Trapping, and Overprinting

• When one object is placed over another (for example, text over a color field,) you can choose:
  • overprinting: print the one directly on top of the other, or
  • knocking out: knock out a hole in the color block in the exact shape of the object being placed over it
• By default, design programs tend to use the knocking out method to avoid:
  • overwetting the paper
  • ending up with the wrong color for the top-most object
• Knocking out can result in misregistration, where a white edge appears between the top object and the one underneath.
• It is best to overprint small text to avoid misregistration.
• Trapping can help over misregistration for larger objects and text: one object is increase in size slightly to overlap the other object.
• Trapping includes two methods:
  • Spreading is when the overlying object is increased in size to overlap the hole that is knocked out.
  • Choking is when the knocked-out hole is reduced in size a bit to overlap the overlying object.
• Trapping can result in the appearance of a darker outline around the overlying object, which can be distracting.
• Usually the lighter ob the two objects is either spread or choked to reduce this discolored outline effect.
• With black text, overprinting is always recommended.
• Trapping adjustments are no longer done in design programs such as InDesign; they are usually done at the printing house, often in the RIP software.

Final Project Overview

Final Project Overview

Throughout the second half of this course, you will be preparing a number of marketing pieces for an imaginary restaurant. See Week 5 for how to begin developing the branding for this company.
For your final project you will be creating a Kit of Parts.

Kit of Parts (Graphic Standards Manual)

Collect your restaurant marketing pieces together into a document called Kit of Parts (a complete branding design package.)
This document will serve as a catalog/portfolio of the related design pieces you created for your restaurant from Weeks 6 through 8.
Specifications

• Create the multi-page document in Adobe InDesign
• All images converted to CMYK, if necessary
• Letter size paper
• Page numbers at the bottom of each page
• ¼" bleed and ¼" safety zone (no text at edge of pages)

Content

• Title page
  • "Kit of Parts"
  • Company/Restaurant name
  • date
• On each of the remaining pages:
  • a page heading identifying the page topic
  • images of the logo and other design pieces your created for your restaurant, one design per page
  • descriptions in complete sentences of the purpose of each design piece and how it supports the branding message of the restaurant
  • captions identifying the nature of each design piece (e.g. "Primary Logo")
• Include images/text from these assignments in your restaurant's Kit of Parts:
  • Week 6 - company overview and logo
  • Week 7 - business card, letterhead and envelope
  • Week 8 - menu and take-out box
• Save the InDesign document as a press-ready PDF for submission.

Example Kit of Parts for TrailExpress.com>>

Note: The text is not complete in the above example. Each page should contain text describing the purpose of each design piece and how it supports the branding message.

Dropbox

Upload the following by the end of the final day of class:

• Kit of Parts (PDF)

Week 5: Type and Color

Week 5: Type and Color

Assignment

Throughout the second half of this course, you will be preparing a number of marketing pieces for an imaginary restaurant. 

This week you will develop your restaurant company overview and design a logo.
In week 6, you will create business card, letterhead and envelope designs for the restaurant.
In week 7, you will create menu and take-out box designs for the restaurant.
In week 8, you will begin a Graphic Standards Manual for the restaurant.


For your Final Project, you will be collecting your marketing design items into a document called Kit of Parts (a complete branding design package.) You will also be finalizing your Graphic Standards Manual.

Create a Restaurant

Create an imaginary restaurant which has a single location in midtown or downtown Sacramento. It can serve any kind of food. Create a name for it that is memorable but not cliché.

Develop a Company Overview

In a Microsoft Word document, write up a company overview for your restaurant which answers the following questions. Please write your profile in complete sentences and in paragraph form. Spelling and grammar count!
Do not repeat the questions in your document, and do not merely answer the questions. Use your answers to develop an overview which is compelling and appetizing. Work as if you were presenting this document to potential investors (if the investors like your work, they will lend money to the restaurant, which can then afford to retain you as a designer.)

Company Basics

• What is the restaurant's name?
• What kind of food does it serve?
• Who are the restaurant's main (real) competitors?
• What is the restaurant's (fake) address and phone number?
• Who is the restaurant's manager?
• What is the price range for a typical dinner?

Company Branding

• Who are your target clients (diners)? Be more specific than "everybody".
  • What kind of people are they?
  • Where are they located?
  • What would you like them to think about your brand?
  • How will you attract them to your restaurant?
• What will the atmosphere of the restaurant be?
• What sorts of colors would be appropriate for the restaurant's marketing materials?
• What will the restaurant's brand message be? In other words, what promise will your marketing make to potential customers about their experience with your restaurant?

Design a Logo

Using the restaurant and company overview you developed above, design a logo which captures the personality and essence of the restaurant's atmosphere and food.
I recommend you begin with 20, 30, or more sketches on paper. This way, you can rule out lots of bad ideas and select the best idea you have (we all have lots of bad ideas that we need to get out of our system when developing a design.)
Create the logo using only vector drawings in Illustrator. Do not use any raster elements. Create Outlines of any fonts that may be used. Save the file as an EPS. 

Avoid:

• anything highly detailed
• clichéd elements, unless presented in a fresh way
• gradients
• any process color other than Process Black
• any RGB elements

Final Project Overview

Take a few minutes to review the requirements for the Final Project.

Avoiding Printing Pitfalls

Using Spot Colors in Illustrator

The Adobe Illustrator software manual may not give the industry specific instructions a screen-printer needs to prepare a graphics file for spot color creation, separation and output, but the great news is the program has everything you need to get the job done easily and accurately.

Are you changing all of your colors to black just to output files? You’re wasting valuable time. Read on to learn how friendly spot colors are to a screen-printer and how to increase your job turnaround rate while reducing costly downtime.

Not every color is a spot color. Consider this color:

It may look like a spot color but it is actually made up of a mixture of cyan (72.55%) and magenta (38.04%), making it a process color for four-color process printing. As it is now, you can’t output this process blue color as one spot color to a single sheet of film. Upon output, two films (cyan and magenta), will print and they will also be made of halftones requiring process inks and not a specific solid color.

This blue is a true spot color which was custom named “Blue Spot Color.”

When a color is a spot color, the swatch in the Swatches palette will have a unique appearance. Work with spot colors when you are not creating a four-color process job.

The symbol below represents a spot color when working in Adobe Illustrator. CorelDraw uses a similar symbol to represent spot colors.

You can easily convert process colors to screen-print friendly spot colors. Double-click any process color swatch in the Swatches palette. It will open the Swatch Options window.

Simply change the Color Type from Process to Spot Color. You can rename your swatch, too.

The color mode (CMYK, RGB, LAB) does not matter, making spot colors so user friendly. Once converted they are ready to use. You can also import a swatch library of spot colors such as a PANTONE solid coated. See the Adobe User Manual or Adobe Help Menu for additional info.

Spot colors print clean and sharp, and only create halftones when tinted, shaded, faded or used as a gradient (blend). Other than that, all spot colors, regardless of their actual color on screen, will output as solid black to your film when at 100% tint.

To output spot separations, choose Print. Go to the Output option. From the Output pop-down menu select Separations (default is Composite). Note the spot colors in your file.

Be sure to make your own registration marks because Illustrator’s registration marks are not big or bold enough for screen-printers. From the Illustrator art file, custom create registration marks and color them with the swatch palette color registration (looks like a registration mark). Elements automatically and universally print on every spot color film output.

Selecting and Using Selected Pantone Colors

Scenario: As a designer, you will be required to use Pantone colors to create spot-color documents for multi-color print projects.

About Pantone Colors

When producing spot color files (which use specified ink colors other than CMYK) each color is selected from the Pantone swatch library. Each Pantone ink color is numbered. The commercial printer uses a specified mixing formula for each Pantone color to ensure accurate color matching. 

How to add Pantone swatches in Illustrator:

Step 1. Remove the default color from the Swatch window..

• With the Illustrator document open, Choose Window>Swatches.
• The default settings for the swatch window include color swatches that are composed of CMYK colors.
  
  
  
  These color should be removed befor adding Pantone colors.
  Note: Production designers always should remove unnecessary colors before sending out job files.
• To remove unnecessary colors, first choose Select All Unused from the swatch window options.
  
  
• With the swatches selected, choose Delete Swatch from the swatch window options.
  
  
  
  
  Usually some swatches remain undeleted.
  
  
  
  
  To delete the remaining swatches, select each manuallyand click on the trash icon at the bottom righ corner of the window
• To add Pantone colors, choose Window>Swatch Libraries>Color Books>. In the pop-up menu select the appropriate Pantone swatch library.
  
  
  
  color to add it to the swatch window.
  
  
  

Week 1: Fundamentals of Prepress

Upload the following by midnight of the first class day of next week:

Week	Assignment	File Name	Points
1	Business Card Specifications Report	business card report.doc	20
	Business Card Layout	business card.ai	25
		business card.pdf	5

Team Activity: Business Card Specifications Report

Scenario: A client has come you for the design and printing of business cards. As a seasoned pro, you know you'd be smart to research how best to produce the cards before beginning your design work. Your client has requested that you use their favorite online printing vendor, Vistaprint.com.

Action Items: Your job is to research the available options and specifications on Vistaprint for business cards, and do the following:

1. Compile a list of questions for your client regarding want they want in the finished product. Their answers will help you determine which Vistaprint product to purchase. 
2. Provide your client with some pricing options for various treatments and/or quantities. 
3. Report on the printing and upload specifications, including accepted file types. 
4. Report any additional relevant findings or resources. 
5. Click and read the links which define any terms which are unfamiliar to you. 

Write up your report in a Microsoft Word document. Use your own words in complete sentences to demonstrate that you understand what you are writing about (not simply copying-and-pasting.) Each team member must complete a portion of the research or report. Include the names of each of your team members; only one team member needs to upload the document.

Individual Activity: Business Card Layout 

Scenario: The client mentioned above has given you the go-ahead on the business card design project after you gave them your Business Card Options report.
Client Specifications: Your client has decided on the following specifications for their business card design:

• Adobe Illustrator 
• 3" x 2½" rectangular card 
• single-sided design 
• full color printing with a bleed 
• 80lb matte card stock with glossy finish 
• 500 quantity 
• custom logo/design created by you 

Action Items: Each student will complete this portion on his/her own and submit individual files.

1. Make up a name and industry for this client. 
2. Design a logo in Adobe Illustrator in CMYK or Pantone colors. 
3. Download one of the business card templates provided by Vistaprint. Make sure you get a blank template (one that shows trim, bleed, etc. only, not one their prepared "design templates".) 
4. Design a business card on the template in the appropriate resolution and color mode. 
5. Follow the instructions on the template for what to hide before printing. 
6. Save the design file as a PDF [Press Quality], ready for upload. 

Templates:

 

Link to VistaPrint Template: Standard Business Card Size

Link to GotPrint Template: Business Card Templates

 

How to Zip Files

Mac: Select all of the files together (or a folder.)
Right-click (or Ctrl-click if right-click is not enabled) on your selection, and select Compress.
A file called archive.zip will be created.
Rename the Zip file as appropriate.

PC: Select all of the files together (or a folder.)
Right-click and select Send To > Compressed (zipped) folder.
A file will be created which has the same name as one of your files but ends instead in ".zip".
Rename the Zip file as appropriate. 

Syllabus

Discuss class goals, objectives and expectations.

Overview of Digital Prepress

View Slideshow: PPT 

Lesson 01: Fundamentals of Print Production

Typical Print Production Workflow

Read Lesson 1, for a complete description of the graphic print production workflow.

Idea and Concept

Strategic Work

• define product 
• analyze audience 
• define purpose and goals 
• identify team 
• identify decision makers 
• select vendor(s) 
• select paper 

Creative Work

• develop design 
• create messaging 
• meet product specifications 

Creative Production

Image and Text

• create, collect and select images 
• edit images 
• enhancement 
• cropping 
• compositing 
• output images to file 
• create and edit text ("copy") 

Week 3
Layout

• arrange of text and images 
• Adobe InDesign is now the industry standard layout software 
• Quark Xpress used to be the standard and continues to be used today 
• take care to prepare the file properly for print production 
• send digital and printed proofs to decision makers for review and approval (or revisions) during the layout process 

Week 4

Industrial Production 

Prepress

• create of high-resolution PDF files 
• print adjustment of images and documents 
• create proofs 
• arrange imposition 
• run rasterization 
• produce printing plates/film 

Week 6 Printing

• laser printing 
• offset printing 
• gravure printing 
• flexographic printing 
• screen printing 

Week 8

Finishing and binding

• should be considered before layout 
• intended use affects selection of binding technique 
• surface processing 
• foiling 
• raised areas 
• partial/full varnishing 
• lamination to increase folding endurance 
• cropping and trimming 
• cut to the correct format and for even edges 
• die-cutting 
• perforation and punching 
• folding and creasing 
• binding 
• metal stitching 
• spiral binding 
• sewn stitching 
• glue binding 
• covers may be included or left out during initial binding 

Week 9

Logistics 

Distribution

• distribute the printed product to the end user 
• often costs more than the printing 

Alternate Prepress Workflow Chart

Planning Considerations 

Read Lesson 1, for a complete description of planning considerations.

Purpose, Audience and Goals 

• What is the goal of the printed piece? 
• to inform (a newsletter or folder) 
• to sell (an advertisement) 
• to entertain or education (a book) 
• to package (packaging) 
• What should it communicate about the brand? 
• Who is the target group of the printed piece or the product/service it sells? 
• Market research can refine demographics and what appeals to them. 
• What media/channels should be used to reach your target market? 
• What size edition should be printed? 
• How will the printed product be used? 

Service Provider 

Different service providers are appropriate for different types of printing jobs.

• What sort of printing needs to be accomplished? Does the provider handle the type of specialty work you may need done? 
• How competent is the provider and is their work of good quality? (See samples of prior jobs.) 
• Does the provider guarantee acceptable delivery times? 
• What is the capacity of the provider and what resources and personnel are available? Will your job be competing for these resources with other clients? 
• What is the typical working relationship the provider has with its customers? 
• Is proximity to the provider relevant? 
• How can you reach key personnel? 
• Can the provider give you name and contact information of previous customers for reference? 
• What sorts of conditions must you meet when working with this provider? 
• Does the provider's business seem stable for the future? 

Team and Roles

• Who will be in charge of the project? 
• Who else is included and what are their reponsibilities? 
• Who will check the proofs? 
• Who gives final approval before it goes to print? 
• Do you need to establish contacts in all the areas? 
• Who should be kept informed during the project? 
• How will you guarantee quality and time frames? 
• How will you prevent scope creep? 

Computer Components 

Read Lesson 2 for a complete description of computer components as the relate to graphic print production. 

Hardware and Ports

View Slideshow: PPT

Screens

 

A screen consists of many rows of small pixels (short for "picture elements".)
Pixels have light sources divided into three sections: red, green and blue.
The color of a given pixel depends upon the strength of the light emitted through each of those sections. 

CRT versus LCD Screens

• CRT stands for Cathode Ray Tube. 
• In the CRT, phosphorescence pixels light up when bombarded with electrons. 
• CRT monitors emit magnetic radiation, are heavy and bulky. 
• LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. 
• The LCD is flat, and contains polarized liquid crystals which are illuminated from behind. 
• The polarized crystals are rotated to let the light through or hide it. 
• Older LCD screens were more expensive and had color issues compared to CRTs. 
• Modern LCDs are as good technically as high-quality CRT screens. 

Screen Size

• A screen is measured in two ways: 
• Diagonally from corner to corner, in inches. 
• The number of pixels the screen holds. 
• A typical screen used in graphic print production is at least 20 inches and contains at least 1,600 by 1,200 pixels. 
• The higher the resolution, the smaller the pixels and the greater the detail. 
• Resolution is also determined by the video card.

Software 

Operating Systems

• An operating system runs all of the computer's basic functions: 
• displaying the user interface 
• receiving and translating signals from the keyboard 
• saving files to the hard drive 
• facilitates communication between programs and the hardware 
• Operating systems include: 
• Mac OS 
• Unix 
• Windows 
• LINUX 

Utility Software

• Utility software works with the OS to provide additional functions beyond the basic set-up. 
• A calculator or font manager is a type of utility software. 

Drivers

• Drivers are software that allow the computer to work with peripheral hardware such as printers and scanners. 
• Internet-connected computer are typically capable of downloading and installing drivers without the user's direction. 

Applications (Programs)

• An application is software that performs a comprehensive set of functions in a specific area. 
• Examples: 
• Microsoft Word—word processing 
• Adobe Photoshop—image editing 
• Adobe Dreamweaver—web page layout and coding 
• Adobe Bridge—archiving and organizing media files 
• Adobe InDesign—printed publication layout and output to prepress 

Plug-Ins

• Plug-ins are add-ons to applications which enhance existing functions. 
• Examples: 
• Colorzilla for the Firefox web browser 
• Genuine Fractals for Photoshop 

Data Storage

 
Common Types of Storage Media

• Hard Drives/Disks 
• Magnetic Tape (e.g. DAT or DLT) 
• CD and DVD 
• Flash Memory 

Older Types of Storage Media

• Magnetic disks 
• Floppy disks 
• Zip and Jaz disks 
• Syquest 
• Magnetic Optical Disks 

Data Sharing

Devices 

Data has to be transmitted between computers and peripheral devices. The data can be transferred over cables, wirelessly, or via networked computers.
USB

• Universal Serial Bus 
• USBs can: 
• transmit data 
• connect monitors, printers, etc. 
• provide power to a device from the computer 
• Has a transmission speed of up to 480MB/second. 

IEEE1394 Firewire

Firewire is a very powerful standard for data tranfer
Has a transmission speed of up to 800MB/second.
Firewire can be connected directly between different computers. 

Bluetooth

• Provides wireless computer communications via radio signals over a short distance (up to 10 meters.) 
• Has a transmission speed of up to 720 Kbit/second. 

Infrared Light (IR)

• Provides wireless computer communications via infrared light over a very short distance (a few inches.) 
• IR ports must be facing each other. 
• Has a transmission speed of up to 4MB/second. 

Networked Computers 

Types of Networking:

• Cable-connected Ethernet 
• Wireless Ethernet (WLAN) 
• TCP/IP (Internet) 

Internet Types of Connections

• High-Speed Connection 
• ADSL and Cable Modem 
• Analog Modem 
• Cell Phone 
• ISDN 

Transferring Files

• Email Attachements 
• FTP 
• HTTP/Web Transfer